Pakistan nuclear program under threat, US sanctions using national security threat!

January 2, 2017

In major blow to the nuclear programme of Pakistan, the US slapped sanctions on 7 Pakistani entities who were involved in its missile programme.

http://postcard.news/major-blow-pakistan-nuclear-program-us-slaps-sanctions-7-pak-entities-acting-national-security/

An official notification of the US Department of Commerce said that the 7 entities have been added to the Export Administration Regulations (EAR). The reason cited for the sanctions is that the US government has determined that these entities were acting in contradiction to the foreign policy & national security interests of the US.

They have been identified as – Ahad International, Air Weapons Complex, Engineering Solutions Pvt Ltd, Maritime Technology Complex National Engineering & Scientific Commission, New Auto Engineering, & Universal Tooling Services.

The US has determined this on the basis of specific facts that these governmental, parastatal, & private entities in Pakistan have been involved in activities that are contrary to the foreign policy interests of the United States.

What the sanctions mean?

A licence requirement for all items subject to the EAR
A licence renew policy of presumption of denial
The licence requirements apply to any transaction in which items are exporter, re-exported, or transferred to any of the entities or in which such entities act as purchasers, intermediate consignee, ultimate consignee, or end-user
Also, no licence exceptions are available for exports, re-exports, or transfers to the persons being added to the entity list

As usual Pakistan denies that any of these entities are involved in any wrongdoings. It is a down-in-the-dumps economy surviving on Chinese money & support, yet it has the world’s fastest growing nuclear program,& wants the world to believe it needs nuclear weapons. In 2016, Pakistan received around $700-800 million in FDI, whereas India received around $45 billion – this shows the trust that the world has in Pakistan’s economy, & where its headed for.

Even so, Pakistan isn’t ready to see the writing on the wall. It has severe power & water crisis, unemployment is rising rapidly, terror is eating it up from the inside…all this is happening yet all that Pakistan cares about is how it can create missiles to deter India from engaging in a conflict.

Although, the relevance & impact of these sanctions will be known with time, the mere act of imposing sanctions by Pakistan’s ‘historical friend’ is significant in itself. It could very well be seen as a drastic shift of the US toward India, & with Donald Trump soon to govern the nation, numerous such pro-India moves might be seen.